Papmehl-Dufay, Ludvig

Abstract [en]

This report presents the results from the excavation by Linnaeus University in September 2016 of a ship-shaped stone setting at Albrunna, SW Öland, Sweden. The work was initiated by the ac- cidental falling of the 4.5 m tall phallic Albrunna stone in 2014, and the subsequent plans of erecting a copy on the spot of the original stone. Earlier records describe the stone as part of a ship- shaped monument, an indication that the excavation managed to confirm. Through soil-stripping with an excavator, the dark colourations left by the removed stones revealed a c. 30 m long and 6 m wide ship-shaped monument, oriented in an approx- imately north-to-south direction. The dating of the monument is difficult, and the excavation results provide no clear answer. Judging on its layout and relation to surrounding sites, late Iron Age is a plausible suggestion, altough a Bronze Age date can- not be excluded. Finds were scarce but included a handful of fragments of burnt bone, as well as unburned bone in relatively small amounts. Of more recent date but still interesting in con- nection to the biographical history of the monument, a glass jar containing a hand-written letter was found hidden between the large phallic Albrunna stone and the boulder against which it was leaning. The letter was dated May 2012 and contained questions to the future from a young couple in times of trouble. After the excavation was finished, a casting was made of the original stone and the concrete copy was erected at the original site in May 2017.